Process of finishing leather



I PATENT rrrcn.

JOHN SANZENBACHER, or OANFIELD, OHIO.

PROCESS OF FINISHING LEATHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,199, datedSeptember 6, 18 92.

Application filed May '7, 1892. Serial No. 432,182. (No specimens.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN SANZENBACHER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Canfield, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of FinishingLeather; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, which will enable those skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Heretofore in processes used for finishing leather it has been common toplace the leather designed to be finished in what is known as astuffing-wheel, and the ingredients used for putting the leather intoproper condition for finishing by the action of the stuffing-wheel havebeen placed in the stuffing-wheelwith the leather. The ingredientcommonly used is tallow, which is placed in the stuffing-wheel whilemelted and hot and the stuffing-wheel rotated a sufficient length oftime for the leather to absorb its full capacity of the tallow or otheroil-y substance. After the stuffing-wheel, together with its contents,has been rotated a sufficient length of time to thoroughly saturate theleather the leatheris removed from the stuffing-wheel and cooled, afterwhich the leather is placed upon the table or other plane surface, andwhile the leather is cold tallow or other oily substance while cold isworked into the flesh of the leather; or, in other words, the oilysubstance is placed upon the flesh side of the hide, the oily substancebeing put upon the leather while cold and the leather wet, after whichthe leather is finished in the usual way.

The object of my invention is to finish leather for harness, pads, andleather for other purposes, and form a finish upon the leather that willcause the finished leather to be firm and possess the desired amount ofstiffness and rigidity without causingthe flesh to become broken orcracked more than the ordinary harness-leather.

To carry my invention into effect, I first place the desired amount oftanned leather in an ordinary stufling-Wheel which has been heated to aheat Varying from 120 to 150 Fahrenheit, which heating is preferablydone by steam. After the leather has been placed in the wheel and heatedfrom 120 to 150 the same proportion being carried out to increase thequantity of the mixture of oleostearine and paraffine-wax. After themelted 'stearine and paraftine-wax have been placed in thestuffing-wheel the wheel is rotated for about one hour, or a sufficientlength of time for the leather to absorb the mixture of paraffine-waxand oleostearine. After theleather has become thoroughly saturated it isremoved from the stuffing wheel and stoned while warm. After the leatherhas been stoned in the ordinary manner it is placed upon tables or otherlevel surfaces and permitted to cool. Then the leather has becomethoroughly cooled, it is smoothed out in the ordinary manner, andparaffine-wax and oleostearine in about the same quantity abovementioned are applied to the leather while it is heated from 180 to 250Fahrenheit. By applying the oleo-stearine and paraffine-Wax while heatedto a high degree it enters the pores of the leather, and after it hasbecome cool the leather becomes more rigid and firm than it is whentreated under the old process.

It will be understood that by stoning the leather while warm and uponthe grain side of the hide the paraffine-wax and oleo-stearine will beforced and pounded into the pores,

' and at the same time the stoning process has a tendency to close themouths of the pores, thereby leaving the pores filled with the mingledparaffine-wax and oleo-stearine, and as the wax and stearine becomehardened by cooling it leaves the leather in a condition to be bentwithout injuring it, and at the same time stiffens the leather. Afterthe stuffingwheel has been heated to a heat varying from 120 to 150Fahrenheit and theleather placed in the wheel, and also heated to from120 to 150 Fahrenheit and the ingredients applied as above set forth,the wheel is rotated. No additional heat is applied after thestuffingwheel has been set in motion.

Having fully described my invention, what heated stuffing compound,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony thatI claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name inthe presence of two witnesses.

JOHN SANZENBACHER.

Witnesses:

F. W. BOND,

LAURA SHAEFFER.

